Looking to save money? It’s foolish to cut preg-checking
W. Mark Hilton
Ohio Beef Cattle Letter
As cattle margins tighten, there is a temptation to cut costs to improve profits . . . and I’m all in favor of it if the cost cutting actually makes your beef business stronger. The first place to look at cost cutting is in feed cost, which accounts for around 50% of the total cost of keeping a cow.
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Feed Specific to the Need to Hold the Line on Cost
Mark Parker
Progressive Farmer
"Bred," the veterinarian calls out from the back of the chute. The gates fly open, and a heifer scrambles out as another takes her place. She, too, is bred. That’s good news for Bartlett, Kansas, rancher Mike Landrith. Like any cattleman, he’s hoping for a calf inside every single heifer moving up the alley. The "bred" or "open" designation has a big impact on Landrith Cattle Company’s nutrition.
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Big Wins Could Be in Store for Cattlemen as Trump Administration Begins Outlining Priorities
Oklahoma Farm Report
Lots of change is about to happen in our nation’s capital as the transition of power takes place between the Obama and Trump administrations. Farm Director Ron Hays spoke with Colin Woodall, lead lobbyist for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, about what he is hearing in D.C. regarding which issues top President-Elect Trump’s list of priorities.
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Fighting someone else’s ‘good idea’ for our land
Gerald Nobles
Drovers
For over a decade, we stood against pipeline companies wanting to run their easements across our property on routes that were to their benefit and not ours. We felt that we had to stand with the city of Midland when the city leaders annexed parts of our ranch for the “greater good,” only to have our decision to sell parcels of the ranch blocked by the city and finally being able to sell at a third of the value.
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Deadline Approaching for 2016 National Beef Quality Audit Producer Survey
Melissa Jackson
Cattlemen’s Beef Board
Beef producers all across the country, from every segment of the industry, are being encouraged to participate in a survey that will help establish a benchmark and course for the beef industry for 2017 and beyond. The Producer Survey of the checkoff-funded 2016 National Beef Quality Audit (NBQA) will collect producer information and opinions, which will be added to the audit’s traditional production research to form an in-depth look at where the industry stands and what its successes and shortcomings are.
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Deciding Who to Cull
Michelle Arnold, DVM
Universtiy of Kentucky
Which cows in your herd are making you money and who is losing you money? Every year, the cow-calf producer needs to critically evaluate each animal in the herd and decide if she is paying her upkeep. Open cows (those that are not pregnant) at the end of breeding season obviously are the top of the cull list.
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How to Create Premium Calves
Katie Alexander
Angus Media
When a beef cattle specialist for the Certified Angus Beef ® brand talks to producers, they might expect to hear all about marbling. But Paul Dykstra told those at a recent Oklahoma Angus Association field day in McAlester, Okla., “It’s all about balance.”
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New Cow-calf Enterprise Budget Spreadsheet Available
Bill Halfman
University of Wisconsin
As we near the end of the year, one of the tasks that savvy farmers with cow-calf operations do is see how the cow-calf enterprise did for the year. To help folks with cow-calf operations accomplish this, UW Extension has developed and released a new beef cow-calf enterprise budget spreadsheet.
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Farm groups ponder what election will mean on Cuba, other issues
Forrest Laws
Delta Farm Press
Will one analyst’s prediction the “legislative pathway for Cuba died at 3 a.m.” when Mr. Trump declared victory Nov. 9 come true? Or were the statements disparaging new relations with Cuba campaign rhetoric?
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Using accelerometers to predict bull behavior in multiple-sire pastures
High Plains Journal
Progeny data from multiple sire pastures indicates a single bull sires a larger proportion of calves compared to other bulls within the same pasture, according to the Kansas State University Beef Cattle Institute. The reason behind this is thought to be linked to behavior among the bulls.
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